The Friday night line is open.

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* T-SHIRT TROUBLE IN HOT SPRINGS: A new T-shirt shop in Hot Springs apparently has upset the city’s wacky mayor Ruth Carney and a few of the local Taliban. The mayor is talking about an ordinance to control T-shirt messages as a result of complaints about shirt messages. Good luck with the 1st Amendment on that, Mayor Carney. The T-shirt shop has moved supposedly “lewd and vulgar” T-shirts to a back room. Channel 7 reports, but missing are the specifics on the T-shirts that gave offense. Anybody know?

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Would it be a crime in Hot Springs to order a batch of the classic T-shirt shown here to give to the mayor’s rat pack?

UPDATE: The mayor appears to comment on Hot Springs Daily. A post under her name defends the idea of requiring that “adult” material not be displayed in windows. She appears to say one of the T-shirts said, “I came here to fuck bitches.” More from the comment under her name (cleaned up for spelling):

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I would hate to live in a city without ordinances and where decency is violated. If prayer can be removed from schools because someone is offended then why can T-shirts not be moved to the back of the store because I’m offended?

SORRY: Paula Deen

  • SORRY: Paula Deen

* BUTTERING UP FAILS: TV cook Paula Deen releases video asking for forgiveness for “hurtful” language.

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“I want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that I’ve done,” she said, near tears, in a short, edited statement posted on YouTube. “I want to learn and grow from this. Inappropriate and hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable. I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way but I beg you, my children, my team, my fans, my partners, I beg for your forgiveness.”

Deen has a, well, colorful record on racial views dating back many years.

BUT, the apology apparently wasn’t enough. Just in from CNN:

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The Food Network says it “will not renew Paula Deen’s contract when it expires at the end of this month.”

* CHECK THOSE CAR TAG RENEWAL NOTICES: Just got this note from a friend. Be aware:

Got a vehicle registration renewal notice in the mail today. Perplexing considering that I took care of it a month ago. I was told by DF&A to throw away the notice. Seems like their computer ran out of paper and when it was restarted it sent out May notices again instead of June ones. The helpful agent told me they are getting bombarded with calls similar to mine.

* GARLAND COUNTY EXPOSE: The latest from the Garland County sheriff’s office, recently rocked by arrest of a deputy for pimping a teenaged prostitute.

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Investigator Danny Wilson was terminated from the Garland County Sheriff’s Office on the 11th of this month on an ethics violation for conduct unbecoming of an officer, stemming from a report that was filed with the Hot Springs Police Department.

On the night of May 23rd we were made aware of a report that was filed with the Hot Springs Police Department where Danny allegedly exposed himself to a patron at the Big Chill. The patron did not wish to pursue charges against him, however he was suspended the next day (the 24th), without pay, pending an internal investigation for an ethics violation.

The internal investigation revealed enough evidence to justify his termination and he was subsequently terminated on the 11th of June.

Also from Lt. James “Corky” Martin:

Last Thursday, June 13th, the Arkansas State Police contacted our patrol Captain about a dash cam video, from a call they assisted us on, that they felt needed to be brought to our attention. The incident was in reference to a traffic stop on suspects in an attempted Burglary who fought with our deputies. Upon viewing the video, our Captain felt the matter needed to be turned over to our internal investigation panel for review.

At this time, the investigation is ongoing and cannot be discussed and the video cannot be released. I can say that the Deputy in question, Sgt. Scott West, has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

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